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The mindful caregiver might choose to immediately
take the woman for a short drive or simply say, “Yes, let’s
go for a ride today, but first let’s give you a bath.” Whatever
the approach, staying in the present moment allows the
caregiver to connect—to hear what’s being asked and to
consider the options. “Unless there is connection,” says
Cason, “the elder will probably feel the caregiver is being
aggressive. She’ll feel like some kind of little machine the
caregiver is there to wash and dress.”
“The feedback I get from people being cared for by
someone practicing mindfulness is that they feel seen
as people, apart from the medical or mental problem,”
says Lief. “Mindful caregivers are able to listen more,
talk less, and utilize a more sophisticated understanding
of non-verbal communication. It also helps them to
not rush to judgment, and being less judgmental really
helps when you’re dealing with someone who so frequently
has to be judged and advised, poked, and prodded.”
It can also be safer to delay judgment. Imagine, says Cason,
“you see an old woman sitting in a chair and her hands are
shaking. You think she’s upset but then you find out she has
Parkinson’s. Don’t just jump to conclusions. Let each situation
you’re working with touch you.”
In the field of caregiving, mindfulness has perhaps most
profoundly touched hospice work. According to Frank
Ostaseski, founder of both the Metta Institute and the Zen
Hospice Project, when a caregiver is mindfully serving a
hospice patient, the relationship is always mutually beneficial.
“The eyes of a dying patient are the clearest mirrors I have
ever looked into,” he says. “They show me myself in a way
that nothing else can. They show me my deepest clinging, my
aversions, and something else—an undying love.”
Mindfully staying in the moment also helps counselors,
therapists, and caseworkers. As program director of the Women’s
Wellness Project at the Garrison Institute, DaRa Williams teaches
mindfulness to women who work with survivors of abuse. “If
you’re working with people who have experienced trauma, you
can experience vicarious trauma,” Williams explains. “As a result
of empathetically connecting to clients, you are in a position to
actually be traumatized yourself.” Mindfully staying in the present
moment helps develop the ability to let go of pain—to let it flow
in and out rather than be blocked by it. This doesn’t just benefit
the caregiver or the therapist; it benefits the clients, too.
Education
Much of what’s wrong with our schools is simply what’s wrong
with the world. It’s fast-paced and uncertain, and the violence
we’ve tried to keep outside our borders is erupting within
them—in our neighborhoods, homes, and schools. This puts
stress on children, which can affect their ability to learn. And
stressed-out kids can develop into anxious adults with poten-
tially long-term physical and emotional issues.
Can contemplative education help? Most of the research on the
effects of mindfulness has been done on adults, but some recent
studies indicate that children benefit from mindfulness in ways
similar to grown-ups. One such study is currently being conduct-
ed by the Inner Resilience Program, which was established to help
K-12 public school students in New York City deal with post-9/11
stress. Its director, Linda Lantieri, says that preliminary results sug-
gest that “students who engage in mindfulness practices seem to
experience reduced stress and acting-out behaviors and increased
coping skills, as well as enhanced concentration and an increased
sense that the classroom is a community.”
At this early stage, though, Lantieri’s most compelling evi-
dence doesn’t come from a study but rather from her own ex-
tensive experience. Since 2001, she has been instrumental in
sharing mindfulness with thousands of children, and they have
become more skillful in quieting their minds, calming their
bodies, and identifying and managing their emotions.
Likewise, David Forbes’ most compelling evidence comes
from his own experiences. Forbes, the author of Boyz 2 Bud-
dhas, specializes in working with youth at risk, a group he pre-
fers to call “youth with problems.”
“I worked with an urban high school football team, which in-
cluded some young men who tended to get in trouble both in
and out of school,” he says. “We practiced mindfulness in group
discussions and in brief, formal sessions of vipassana meditation.
The mindfulness appeared to pay off. In one session, the group
was able to face and work through racial tension between mem-
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